Portable railway-switch



NdmaeL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. E. NORWOOD. PORTABLE RAILWAY SWITCH.

No. 486,497. Patented Nov. 22, 1892.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Y J. NORWOOD. v PORTABLE RAILWAY SWITGE. No. 486,497. @Patented Nov; 22', 1892. 5

HUM mm a U/ Q UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN E. NORWOOD, OF SYKESVILLE, MARYLAND.

PORTABLE RAILWAY-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 486,497, dated November 22, 1892,

Application filed December 17, 1891. Serial No. 415,332. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN E. NoRWooD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sykesville, in the county of Carroll and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Railroad- Switches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to temporary railroad-switches and portable frogs and crossover saddles for completing the same, the object being to provide devices which can be readily applied without cutting or otherwise disturbing the track-rails.

To this end the invention consists in the novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention is illustrated in the accom panying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a plan view of a portion of double track, showing a temporary switch laid from one track to the other and completed with myimproved devices; Fig. 2, an enlarged plan view of one of the switchfrogs applied to a rail; Fig 3, a side View of the same; Fig. 4, a similar View showing the manner of interlocking the frog and switchrail; Fig. 5, an end view of the frog, dotted lines showing the position of the switch-rail; Fig. 6, a vertical section on line 6 6 of Fig. 3; Fig. 7, a detail View of the clamping-lever, and Fig. 8 an end view of the cross-over saddle used at the middle part of the switch.

It frequently happens in railroading that a temporary switch which can be quickly laid Without cutting the rails of the main track would be very useful-as, for instance, in case of a blockade on the road-when, in order not to delay trains, they must be run around the obstruction, or where local work is being done on the road and the work-train is to be side tracked, and in many other instances.

turned lip a on one side of said channel, which lip takes under the rail-head, and a suitable clamping-lever O,pivoted on the opposite side of the channel and having a cam-surface b to take under the rail-head and bind against the web of the rail. The saddle A comprises an inclined tongue D, which fits on top of the rail and has a thin edge at the end d, so that carwheels will ride up thereon easily from the track-raiLand aplatform E,extendingfrom the high end of the tongue and widening toward the other end of the saddle, which terminates in a vertical wall A. The inclined tongueD rises to a suflicient height to carry the flange of a car-wheel over the treadof the track-rail, and at the highest part,where said tongue terminates and the platform E begins,a switchbar F is pivoted, with its end fitting a concave socket in the tongue. This switch-bar moves freely over the platform and may be swung from one side to the other, stops w being provided to prevent it from leaving said platform. The switch-bar has a width at the top the same as that of the tread of an ordinary rail, and its free end is flush with the vertical end wall A of the saddle. The saddle has ledges G on its end wall, forming rests for a switch rail H, which is abutted against the end wall in forming a temporary switch. A pair of lugs e project from said end wall at each side of the frog, and the end of the Web of the said switch-rail fits between the two lugs of one pair, while the base of the rail rests on one of the ledges G. Similar lugs a project from the free end of the switch-bar F, and also take on opposite sides of the Web of the rail H. It will be observed that in thisway a joint is formed between the free end of said switch-bar and the rail H, and the switch-bar is locked in place by the end of said switch-rail and in line with it.

In forming a temporary switch the switchrails H are laid upon blocks placed on the cross-ties and are securely spiked thereto, and the switch is completed by clamping one of the improved saddle-frogs to each track-rail and interlocking it with the switch-rail in the manner previously described. Where the switch-rails cross over the track-rails saddles I are clamped to the latter in the same manner as the frogs A, and each of said saddles has on its top surface grooves j, extending diagonally and crossing each other and so located as to be in line with the flanges of the switch-rails. Two grooves are thus provided to render the saddles reversible and adapt them to aright-hand orleft-hand switch. The saddles have suitable abutting walls I for the ends of the switch-rails.

It- Will be seen that my apparatus constitutes a portable switch which can be formed anywhere without cutting or otherwise disturbing the ordinary track-rails, and that a switch may be run off either to the right or leftby properly adjusting the swingingswitchbars of the frogs which guide the wheels.

The frogs and cross-over saddles may be readily unclamped and removed from the rail, and then the main track may be traveled as usual, while the switch-rails H remain in place. The switch can be quickly completed again by applying the frogs and saddles. A

frog of the form shown may also be employed asa mere derailer, with the advantage that by its use a train may be thrown from the track to either side, whichever presents more favorable conditions. When used for this purpose, the switch-bar is held in place at either side by a spike, which is dropped into a socket S in the platform, the switch-bar being held between the spike and stop 9:.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A portable railroad-frog to saddle the track-rail and provided with suitable means for clamping it thereto, said frog comprising a pivoted switch-bar and a platform, the switch-bar and platform both being provided with corresponding lugs to receive the end of a switch-rail between them, thereby locking said bar in the manner described.

2. A temporary railroad-switch comprising a number of frogs saddling the track-rails and suitably clamped thereto, each of said frogs provided on top with a stationary inclined tongue, and a pivoted switch-bar, forming a continuation thereof, switch-rails H, interlocking with the frogs and switch-bars, and cross-over saddles clamped to the track-rails and grooved in the line of the switch-rails.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN E. NORVVOOD.

\Vitnesses:

FRANK P. DAVIS, JNo. T. MADDOX. 

